Retaliation

CHAPTER FIVE

The Command Container, Russia

Frank was as good as his word. Exactly an hour later two pods landed, and Dan stepped out of the first. One of the Queen Bitch’s Elite stepped out of the other and helped Boris secure Janna in the pod. They placed the banana bag, as Paul insisted on calling the nutrient IV packs, on a hook in the pod cabin. Apparently, the need for evacuation by pod had been considered. He appreciated the help and care that the man took. He bowed to him in the traditional Japanese style of showing respect before the pod left.

Boris quickly went to the doorway and grabbed his web gear and weapons. The body armor was reasonable after his recent bad luck. Dan was a bit surprised to see the mix of weapons Boris was carrying. A silenced MP5 and the pair of silenced Glocks he’d expected. The AA-12 was not on the list of ‘discrete’ weapons. The short sword instead of a knife or dagger made some sense but was an unusual choice, to say the least. He recognized a pouch for throwing knives as well, and Boris handed him another one. Dan shrugged. He wasn’t really a knife man, but he could hum the tune.

“What do you want to take that for?” Dan asked, indicating the assault shotgun.

Boris gave him the ghost of a smile and answered “It is for two reasons. I have some silver buckshot in case there are Weres among the NVG. There is no real quiet way to take out a Were. Also as TARFU insurance da? Better to have it and not need it…”

Dan grunted in agreement. After so much time hunting down Nosferatu, he wouldn’t say it was overkill. Personally, he hoped that things didn’t even reach SNAFU levels but with so many unknowns it was better to be sure. His personal weapons included a silenced pistol and MP5.

Tonight should be fun, even if it weren’t the right time to use the railgun. He deserved a night out like John, and the team had post-Colorado. He hadn’t been able to join that night.

Damned the luck.

Neither of them knew about the other two pods Bethany had on standby, just in case this favor was a trap.

The two landed about a mile away from the refinery and approached it on foot. Despite the dry weather, Boris was wearing a forest camouflage poncho over his equipment. On the approach to the installation, located a couple of miles from any sizable town, there was a pair of bunkers.

Boris raised his hand. Upwind from the bunker, he smelt one of the particularly cheap and vile cigarettes as it was being smoked. Leaving Dan behind, he slipped silently through the scrub.

Dan was close enough, with his improved vision, to see the knife flash and sink to the hilt in the guard’s neck. When he caught up with Boris, still removing the blade, he saw that it had gone through the spine and continue through vertebrae. There was a slight grating between metal and bone as the knife was pulled free.

That was a lot of force.

Boris signaled for Dan to head toward the closest bunker from the rear and loped off towards the other one. Their goal here was to make it easier for ADAM to hijack the comms. Dan had a special device that he could plug into whatever system the NVG group was using to give ADAM easy access. He just hoped he was going for the right bunker.

As Dan approached the entrance of his target, a small group of three military-style trucks pulled up. He heard the door handle as it moved and ducked around the side, hiding in the shadows. Boris softly cursed, but Dan focused on the conversation. His Russian wasn’t great, but he could get the gist of the conversation. The NVG had sent in a platoon to take over the refinery to secure fuel for their operations.

The action had hit a problem. This wasn’t at ‘it’s a trap’ level yet, though. As far as Dan was concerned, it was simply more enemies to take out. Boris seemed aggravated by something, though.

Then the wind shifted, and Dan caught the scent of werewolves. Things were fast heading towards needing TARFU insurance. Dan was glad he had a half dozen of the sintered metal/silver magazines for the MP5. It would make things simpler.

The conversation stopped, and the trucks rumbled into the base. After the sound of their passage faded, Dan approached the bunker door again, with his Glock drawn. He kicked up his speed as he entered the room. Within three seconds the four inside were dead. One bullet to the heart and two to the head for each put them down, permanently. The stink of voided bowels filled the air, but he didn’t let it bother him.

Taking a deep breath in reaction, he realized that it was strange that the Weres hadn’t alerted to Boris. Dan might smell like a normal human, but Boris was another matter.

Dan shook his head, refocused on his primary objective, and plugged one of the connections on the device he had been given into the computer system. At least he had the right bunker for that. Then Boris’s voice came quietly over the radio.

“Plans need to change. I need to capture at least one of the Weres alive. We need to know if they are lone wolves or if a pack has joined this insanity. Rush them before they have a chance to spread out to the edges, because if one of them gets away, we may be in trouble.”

Dan thought about it for a moment. “Confirmed.”

They approached the gate, and Boris started taking off his webbing and pants. He divested himself of the MP5 and Glocks, tucking them behind a rock. He kept on the body armor, though.

“Angle your attack to come in from the left, da? I will try and herd them towards you. They will definitely notice me when I enter.” Boris still had the AA12 and had hung four drum magazines from the body armor. “I will change to Pricolici before I charge.”

“You can use that,” he pointed to the shotgun, “in your other form?” Dan asked

Boris showed him the trigger mechanism. It was about three times larger than the standard size, as was the magazine release. Dan grunted. It was evident over his years Boris had put a lot of thought into things. He probably had more control over his beast-man form than the others too. He somehow couldn’t see Peter using a gun in this way.

“I will give you two minutes to get into position. I hope the guards from the perimeter come in when the ruckus starts, so watch your back.” Boris’s eyes were practically glowing at this point.

Dan headed off to take his position. He heard the soft ripping of cloth as he left. Boris was going all out on this one, that was for sure.

Almost exactly two minutes later Boris headed into the refinery. Thankfully, all of the distilling equipment was well away from the entrance area, no doubt as a safety measure. This area was mostly offices and housing. There was only the slightest hint of petrol in the air. It would be relatively safe for him to use the shotgun. That also meant it would be safe for the NVG to use their weapons, however. He was glad Alecta had designed and made this body armor for him. It had elastic sections between the plates so it still covered significant portions of his body when he changed.

He heard a shout from near the trucks. He had been seen. Letting loose a bellow he charged in. His first drum held lead shells. The other four, attached to the body armor were loaded with silver buckshot.

Bullets from their AK74 carbines started cracking around him. He felt several hit his armor, and one graze his arm. No silver, though. He reached about fifty yards from them and took cover behind a tree.

Taking aim, he started firing shots off at those who had their weapons out and firing. Ten had scattered and rushed for cover but were not firing back at him.

Probably the wolves.

He fired off single shots at those firing at him. The AA12 wasn’t the most accurate weapon so he was gentle on the trigger, trying for single shots. The range was low, but he wanted to herd them in a direction, not try and kill them where they stood. He managed to take down fourteen of the soldiers in the process, even without trying.

Picking his targets from those on the edges caused them to bunch up without thinking. With the drum on his shotgun empty, he slung it out of the way before charging across the meters between them, now in an arc in front of him, with only his claws and teeth.

They tried to scatter as he advanced but he was too quick. Disemboweling one with a swipe of his paws, he switched to the short sword to take the heads of two more. Dan hadn’t asked him about the large grip. He reached his head down and bit a large chunk off another victim’s shoulder, severing the arm at the same time. He chewed and swallowed while staring at the others, blood dripping down his jaws and the stringy flesh hanging from between his teeth.

One of the remaining two fainted, accompanied by the stink of hot urine and the sulfurous odor of loaded pants. The final one chose defiance and emptied his magazine into Boris. The response was not what the shooter expected when Boris threw the sword impaling him through the spine. Collapsing after the futile resistance, the soldier’s legs stopped working, and he dropped, his weapon wrenched from his grip. Boris kicked him ‘lightly’ in the head, knocking him unconscious before the bear-man knelt and pulled the sword free.

Perhaps they could get information from these two.

Off somewhere to the right, Boris heard bursts of fire and the faintest of sounds that had to be Dan returning fire with his silenced MP5. It appeared to be a substantial group shooting at Dan, armed with something similar to a dozen AK-47s. At least Dan was having some fun even as the perimeter guards were circling around to get to the target they thought vulnerable. The soldiers were certainly in for a shock.

Boris felt the sting of a half dozen wounds dotted across his limbs as his body ejected a couple of bullets.

He lifted the trucks onto their sides, leaving their wheels impotently spinning, then stalked toward the other vehicles in the lot. The scent of wolf permeated the air, as did the odor of fear. As Boris strode forward, he roared “Therree is noo esscappe. Fight me or die like the currrs you are! Iiif youuu rrrun I will hunt dowwn annny you carrre for!”

There was a moment of silence in which he ejected the drum from the AA12 and, with a little fumbling due to his form, loaded the next one into the gun.

He heard a sudden howl and knew what would come next. He’d taken out large groups of wolves before and knew that their battles followed repeated forms. He knelt and held down the trigger spraying a one hundred eighty degree arc with silver buckshot. He heard a whine with each hit. Six whines, six hits. As he let the shotgun drop onto its sling, two wolves jumped for his neck. He swayed to the side and grabbed one by the scruff of the neck, adding to its momentum as he slammed its head into the other wolf’s skull. There was the sickening crunch of snapping and shattering bones.

One of the two remaining wolves circled around him and fled in Dan’s direction as the other, braver one, turned in the opposite route. Boris grinned as he made a leap for this last one and with a smack from the hilt of his sword, knocked it unconscious. For good measure, Boris broke all four of the wolf’s legs. He wanted information and needed to find out who they were, why would they help the NVG, and who was involved.

He went to check on the remaining wolves, the ones hit by silver. Two were clearly dead, the other four were severely injured, although one was trying to crawl away. Boris broke all of their legs too. Then he headed off in Dan’s direction. He could hear a yelp followed by silence from that direction and hastened his speed to answer his burning curiosity.

Dan was in position as he saw Boris move through the gate. As the Pricolici started herding the soldiers with gunshots he swore. The big Russian bastard was going to take all the fun for himself. Then he heard the crack of bullets from behind him and swore in chagrin. Boris had reminded him about the perimeter guards and like a boot he’d lost his situational awareness and focused on what the other guy was doing.

He turned around, looking for cover from the direction of the guards’ advance and cursed. For whatever reason, they were avoiding Boris to link up on this side. He had guards coming in spread in a 270-degree arc with no cover that would compensate for his exposure. He was effectively being enveloped now that he’d been spotted and was under continuous fire.

Thinking quickly, he drew his knife and charged the center of the arc. If he took them out and found cover beyond their line, he’d be in a better position. Firing from the hip as he went, he took out four of the guards quickly, shocked at the ease with which he accomplished the body count. He’d never been that accurate firing from the hip on the run before. Also, it was as if the MP5 just didn’t have recoil.

It struck him like a pie in the face. Of course! He’d trained with the rest of the troops since he’d been enhanced but that had been all on the mats. Only unarmed or knife fighting and team tactics. The gun work he’d done since he’d been upgraded were with railguns, not these 9mm lighter pieces. With his improvements, it really was a point and shoot situation. He didn’t notice the recoil because, with his increased strength, there wasn’t enough torque to even be an annoyance.

Running past the corpses of recent kills, he spotted a tree with a rock next to it. Sliding behind the stone, he started picking off the guards moving to flank him with the MP5. They quickly took cover, none of them revealing their heads long enough for him to draw a bead on them. Smart fighters.

Dan took a deep breath, looked around, and assessed his situation. There were more perimeter guards than they had expected. They had already killed five. There were at least eleven more out there firing in his direction.

While they had pinpointed him, their fire was inaccurate and suppressive in nature. They were either hoping he’d make a mistake, or they’d get a lucky hit. They were not advancing to take him out but rather trying to flank him. That might be their best tactic in the circumstance considering the lack of good cover, but it also showed a lack of confidence. They should be leapfrogging, half of the force suppressing him, the other half moving forward. He stopped critiquing like he was the boss and started developing plans.

He wasn’t an average human anymore. It had taken him longer to accept that than John Grimes and the team, probably because of his age. He could take a couple of bullets to his body armor and just keep going. If they flanked him or used grenades, he was in trouble, though. But he could probably move faster than they were used to. It would take time for them to adjust their aim to compensate, especially when leading their target.

Waiting here was getting him nowhere fast, so he chose to take the initiative. Moving to run in an arc towards the first group he threw one of the knives Boris had given him as a distraction in the other direction. It’s glint attracted a lot of fire as he took off running. It had felt like a minute before the sound of a bullet whizzed by near him.

At that point, he was nearing the flank of the seven-man group. Charging, he drew his knife with his off hand, firing bursts from the MP5 to keep them more worried about being hit than focused on shooting at him. Three went down in those bursts of his shots. That left four that were an immediate threat. His gun clicked empty so he dropped it to hang on its sling and switched the knife to his right hand.

It was then that he spotted that his opponents had attached bayonets to their guns. He hadn’t taken into account that they may be reacting slower than he expected of trained military, forgetting the fact that they weren’t professionals. They had acted instinctively in the right way, though. This was fast becoming a cluster-fuck experiment, he thought as he drew the silenced Glock with his left hand. He shot one of the attackers in the head as he pulled the gun and then the guards were on top of him.

He parried the first thrust with the Bowie knife, reversed his grip and drove it into the man’s throat on the back swing. He cursed as it hit bone and stuck briefly. He blocked the second fighter with the Glock, the bayonet of his opponent skidding along the slide. Twisting aside from the third one, that man’s bayonet still managed to plunge into his leg. With the rush of pain, he felt something electrify the senses throughout his body.

Dan could feel a type of energy envelope and thread through his body. Whether it came from inside or outside, he couldn’t determine in the rush of combat. He had spoken with Bethany Anne and Gabrielle enough to make a guess that this was Etheric energy working in his system.

He dropped both pistol and knife. With one hand he reached out and snapped the first man’s neck. Then he wrenched the bayonet out of his leg and jerked the man holding the rifle forward. He smashed his fist into the man’s nose driving bone into his brain with a crunch, killing him instantly.

He ducked behind cover and grabbed out one of the syringes that Bethany Anne had insisted he bring. It had her blood with extra nanites. He injected it next to the wound. As he crouched down reloading the MP5, he could see the wound slowly mend itself together, leaving only the slick blood behind on the surface.

That left four out there to neutralize. He felt simultaneously sickened and energized by what he had just done. As he poked his head from cover, rifle fire resumed from his opponents. Bending to pick up his knife and pistol, he turned and charged the remaining guards. En-route he saw a wolf from the corner of his eye.

The firing had stopped as they paused to reload. He grinned. They should have sequenced their fire better. That way one of them could have kept shooting while the others reloaded.

He backhanded the wolf as it neared him and kept running at the men. As he came closer, he fired off two rounds taking out a man with each of his remaining shots and dropped the empty pistol. Turning slightly, he stabbed one man through the sternum with the knife. Finally, he grabbed the last man with his left hand and snapped his neck. He heard the last wolf approaching from behind, so he spun and slapped it violently across the face, forcing a yelp of pain as it tumbled away.

He retrieved his weapons. After reloading, he put the guns away and grabbed the unconscious, but breathing wolf and throwing it over his shoulder. Dan walked back to where he assumed Boris was after he saw one of the tipped trucks being righted.

As Dan and Boris drove off with a truck full of wolves (and one still unconscious human), Dan asked, “So what do you plan on doing with them?”

“Interrogating them for information,” Boris replied. “They have to know something useful. Organization, recruitment methods, base locations, supply routes… something.”

Dan grunted and responded, “I’m gonna call down a couple of extra pods. We’ll dose them with a sedative and take them with us. Looks like you get to see the Australian base, mate.” He said the last with a grin.

“I need to get back to…” Boris’s voice trailed off. He wanted to be near Janna. He should get back to Danislav. There was a conflict in his priorities, confusion in his mind, that he worked to keep hidden from Dan as the truck proceeded down the dirt road to where they had landed a pod.

“You need this info, right? And you need to know they are telling the truth, yes? Then you need Stephen, Akio, Barnabas, or Bethany Anne. They can make sure you get straight dice out of these sorry sacks of shit.”

Boris slowly nodded. Dan was right. It was best that they go about it this way.